EV vs Gas Cost Per Mile in Texas
At Texas's average prices, a Tesla Model 3 RWD costs an estimated $0.040 a mile to charge at home and a 30 mpg gas car $0.093 a mile in fuel: $642.70 a year apart over 12,000 miles. Per mile, the EV spends about 43% of what the gas car does.
State data
What Texas pays
- Home electricity
- 15.9¢/kWhEIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A · EIA, August 2026 (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Gasoline
- $2.80/galEIA weekly regional / AAA state averages, 2025–26 reference
- EV used for the page
- Tesla Model 3 RWD, 25 kWh/100 miEPA, fueleconomy.gov (combined)
At 15.9¢/kWh, a Model 3 RWD costs $0.040 a mile to charge at home in Texas. A 30 mpg car costs $0.093 a mile to fuel in Texas at $2.80/gal.
Statewide averages. Put your own rate and pump price in the calculator above.
EVs on the road here
Electric vehicles in Texas
- Light-duty EVs registered
- 387,400 all-electric · 79,900 plug-in hybridDOE AFDC, registrations on Dec 31, 2025
- EV share of light-duty vehicles
- 1.6% all-electric · 2.0% with a plugDOE AFDC, registrations on Dec 31, 2025 · 23,828,200 vehicles
- EVs per 100 homes
- 3.8AFDC registrations ÷ RECS 2020 housing units (10.26 million)
- Public charging
- 3,861 locations · 13,131 ports (7,455 Level 2 · 5,676 DC fast)DOE AFDC station counts, 2026-10-27
- EVs per public port
- 29.5AFDC registrations ÷ AFDC public ports
By raw numbers Texas is a major EV market; by share it is ordinary. Registrations for 2025 list 387,400 battery-electric vehicles, the 3rd-highest total nationally, and 79,900 plug-in hybrids. Spread across a fleet of 23,828,200, those EVs are only 1.6% of the state's cars and light trucks, the 21st-highest of 51 states and below the 2.1% US share, and per household the count is 3.8 for each hundred homes versus 4.6 nationally. Ordinary hybrids without a plug, 1,048,900 of them, are more numerous than either plug-in type.
Public charging in Texas is built around fast stations. Its 5,676 DC fast ports rank the 2nd-highest by count and form 43% of the 13,131 public ports, a larger slice than the US 30%; Level 2 supplies 7,455 of them. That split produces two ratios that point in opposite directions. Counting every port, there are 29.5 EVs per plug, the 4th-highest among the states and above the US 21.7. Counting fast ports alone, the figure is 68, beside 72 nationally, so fast plugs are less contested than the US norm even though the network as a whole is busier.
Registrations: DOE AFDC, registrations on Dec 31, 2025, light-duty vehicles, rounded to the nearest hundred by AFDC. Charging: DOE AFDC station counts, 2026-10-27, public stations only.
EV vs gas cost per mile
F01Scenario A
Sets the electricity rate. Pick US average if you're not sure.
From EIA for Texas. Use the rate on your bill if you know it.
Rate used: 15.9¢/kWh · Texas · EIA, August 2026 · gasoline $2.80/gal (2025–26 ref.) (data as of 2026-10-25) ·
Estimated savings per year (12,000 miles)
EV $0.040 a mile vs gas $0.093 a mile, home charging.
- EV cost per mile (EPA kWh/100 mi, at the wall)
- $0.040
- Gas cost per mile
- $0.093
- EV, 12,000 miles a year
- $477.30
- Gas car, 12,000 miles a year
- $1,120.00
- Savings per year
- $642.70
- Prices used
- electricity 15.9¢/kWh · gasoline $2.80/gal (Texas)
Estimate. Formula and sources are under “How it works”. Change any input; the result updates as you type.
Worked example
Worked example: Model 3 RWD vs a 30 mpg car in Texas
At 15.9¢/kWh, a Model 3 RWD (25 kWh per 100 miles, EPA) draws 25 kWh from the wall for every 100 miles (the EPA measures it at the wall), so each mile costs $0.040. A 30 mpg car at $2.80/gal spends $0.093 a mile. Over 12,000 miles: $477.30 for the EV, $1,120.00 for gasoline, a difference of $642.70 a year (fuel only). That difference is the 38th-highest of the 51 on this site.
What the numbers say
What the numbers say in Texas
Gasoline in Texas sells at the lowest price in the country, $2.80/gal, 13% below the US average of $3.20/gal. That shrinks the EV's advantage, but electricity at 15.9¢/kWh, 12% below the US average of 18.2¢/kWh, holds most of it in place. The Tesla Model 3 RWD uses 43% of the 30 mpg car's fuel cost for each mile, and the annual difference over 12,000 miles ranks the 38th-highest among the states when each is run at its typical prices.
The tie points show how much room is left. Home power would have to climb to 37.3¢/kWh, from today's 15.9¢/kWh average, before the EV's cost per mile matched the gas car's, or the gas car would have to get 70 mpg. Charging in a garage leaves the EV nowhere near either.
Public charging is the part that can shift things. Because 43% of the state's public ports are DC fast, a Texan who charges away from home is likely to be paying a fast-charging tariff, and that can sit much nearer the tie point than a residential rate does. Put the per-kWh price from the station into the calculator's electricity box for the on-the-road cost per mile; charge time estimates the length of the stop.
For home charging, read your utility plan. A plan that bills overnight hours at a different price puts that price in place of 15.9¢/kWh, and the per-mile cost moves with it. Pickups draw more: on the same rate the Ford F-150 Lightning costs $0.076 per mile, a number that belongs next to a gasoline truck's, not a 30 mpg sedan's.
Not counted here are the price of the car and of the charger. Add the vehicle with plug-in hybrid vs EV vs gas and the wall unit with Level 2 installation cost. Home heating gets its own estimate on the Texas gas vs electric heating page.
Questions
FAQ
Is charging an EV cheaper than gas in Texas?
At Texas's average prices, yes for the page's example: $0.040 a mile for a Model 3 RWD at home against $0.093 for a 30 mpg car, $642.70 a year over 12,000 miles. The EV would lose its fuel-cost edge only above about 37.3¢/kWh, or against a gas car rated above 70 mpg. Both prices are editable above.
What about public fast charging in Texas?
Fast chargers usually charge more per kWh than a home rate. This page uses Texas's home average, 15.9¢/kWh. To see the cost per mile on the road, type the charger's price per kWh into the electricity rate field; the gas side stays at $2.80/gal.
How do time-of-use rates change this in Texas?
The EV's cost per mile moves in direct proportion to the rate you charge at. If an overnight rate were half of 15.9¢/kWh (8.0¢/kWh), the Model 3 RWD would cost $0.020 a mile instead of $0.040. Check your utility's tariff for the real overnight rate and type it in.
Gas is so cheap in Texas. Does an EV still spend less on fuel?
At typical prices, yes. Even with pump prices the lowest in the nation at $2.80/gal, the gas car costs $0.093 per mile while the example EV charged at home costs $0.040, since power is inexpensive too at 15.9¢/kWh. Parity needs electricity at 37.3¢/kWh or a 70 mpg gas car. Paying a steep per-kWh price at fast chargers is what can shrink the gap a lot.
Can I count on fast charging for a long drive across Texas?
Texas has 5,676 public DC fast ports, the 2nd-highest count nationally, and 68 EVs per fast port next to 72 for the US. Totals say nothing about spacing along a particular highway, so look up the stations on your route on a charging map before you leave. The charge time page estimates each stop's length for your car.
Bordering states
Nearby states
Same two cars, each state's own prices:
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